Perfect White Bread

 I decided early on that I'd be baking this afternoon. I'm hungry for real honest-to-goodness homemade bread. I love it especially for breakfast with jam. So I looked through Mom's cookbooks and found a recipe for "Perfect White Bread".

 And "perfect" it is ...

 The recipe is in a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook circa 1975. Here is the recipe:

 I'll offer some pointers and some shortcuts below.

 I always "proof" my yeast since I tend to keep open packets (refrigerated, of course) and I can never be quite sure how old they are or whether the yeast is still living. I took the 2-1/4 cups of milk, warmed it a bit in the microwave (it can only be lukewarm or you'll kill the yeast for sure), added the two tablespoons of sugar to it and then stirred the yeast in. If the yeast is living the mixture will be topped with foam in about ten minutes time.

 I melted the butter in a mixing bowl (again with the microwave) and added the salt to it. Then it's just a matter of pouring the yeast/milk/sugar mixture in and stirring these wet ingredients together. That's much easier than the recipe.

I then added six cups of flour and kneaded the dough on a floured pastry cloth for ten minutes. Don't skimp here. The bread will have a much better texture if it's kneaded properly.

 The resulting dough will look like the picture above. It's easy to handle and not sticky. I then placed it in a greased ceramic bowl for the 1:15 rise time. I always let bread dough rise in my oven. I turn the oven on for a few seconds and let it warm a bit. The same applies as for proofing yeast. It can only be warm (maybe 80 - 100°) and never hot. I cover the bowl with a damp towel and let it be.

 After an hour and a quarter the dough looks like this. It has easily doubled in volume. It's already got a fine yeasty smell, too.

 I punched the dough down, kneaded it a few times and cut it into two equal size pieces. I formed them into rough loaf shapes and placed them into greased bread pans. The picture above shows them after another hour's rise time.

 Finally, here's how they look after 45 minutes baking at 375°. Just perfect.

 This is an easy recipe and uses few ingredients. I'd have added sunflower seeds if I'd had any. But it's delicious as it is. And "plain" can't be beat when the recipe calls for "perfect".